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  4. Public seminar: The Temporary Turn in European Migration Policy

Public seminar: The Temporary Turn in European Migration Policy

Research
Society and economy

Across Europe, temporary residence statuses have become an increasingly important feature of migration and asylum governance. In this public seminar, two speakers examine this “temporary turn” from different perspectives. Drawing on the case of Ukrainian displacement and on developments in European migration law, they explore how temporariness shapes migrants’ legal status, opportunities for inclusion, and prospects for building a future in Europe.

Seminar
Date
26 Nov 2026
Time
13:15 - 15:00
Location
Lecture Hall Sappören, Sprängkullsgatan 25, Göteborg
Participants
Shmulyar Gréen (Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg) and Jessica Schultz (Senior Researcher Law, Chr. Michelsen Institute)
Good to know
The keynote lectures are part of a workshop organized by the Swedish Research Council and the Centre on Global Migration at the University of Gothenburg. The purpose of the workshop is to share experiences from completed projects that have been part of the Swedish Research Council’s National Research Programme on Migration and Integration (NFP-MI).

The workshop takes place over two days, with keynote lectures on 26 November and presentations from completed projects within NPF-MI on 26 and 27 November. You are welcome to attend as an audience member for all or part of the workshop.

**Presentations will be given in both Swedish and English, and discussions will accommodate participants’ language preferences.**

You are welcome to register for all or part of the workshop. Please indicate in your registration which sessions you would like to attend.

Organizer
The Swedish Research Council (VR) and the Centre on Global Migration (CGM)
Registration (last registration day 12 November)

Agenda

Thursday 26 November

Keynote lectures 13:15-15:00

Coffee break 15:00-15:30

Project presentations: 15:30-17:30

Friday 27 November

Project presentations 08:30-12:00

 

Keynote Lectures

Across Europe, temporary residence statuses have become an increasingly important feature of migration and asylum governance. In this public seminar, two speakers examine this “temporary turn” from different perspectives. Drawing on the case of Ukrainian displacement and on developments in European migration law, they explore how temporariness shapes migrants’ legal status, opportunities for inclusion, and prospects for building a future in Europe.

Living in (Legal) Temporariness: What Ukrainian Displacement in Europe Can Teach Policymakers?

Oksana Shmulyar Gréen
Associate Professor in Sociology, Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg

Abstract:  Amid the arrival of millions of Ukrainians across the European Union, temporariness has become firmly established as a legal, institutional, and administrative condition shaping the lives of displaced populations and other newly arrived migrants. Following the activation of the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) in 2022, scholarly and public debates have often reinforced a narrative of Ukrainians as a comparatively privileged group of migrants. To develop a more nuanced understanding of how temporality has from structured the lives of displaced Ukrainians, I draw on the concept of temporal dissonance, which sheds light on the complex layers of uncertainty and often conflicting tempos embedded within three interrelated forms of temporality: legal, institutional and lived temporalities. Taken together, these intersecting temporalities reveal that the apparent legal privilege associated with temporary protection can coexist with profound temporal uncertainty, limiting displaced Ukrainians’ ability to establish continuity, exercise agency, and construct viable futures.

The regulation of migrant inclusion through attachment criteria: a legal perspective on the ‘temporary turn’ in Europe

Jessica Schultz
Senior Researcher, Law, Chr. Michelsen Institute

Abstract: delas inom kort

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